Since its founding over a century ago, Tokyo College of Music (TCM) has trained countless world-class musicians. Despite its well-established reputation, however, the school was feeling a pressing need to reconsider its role in order to remain relevant in a changing world.

The college had plans to build a second campus in Daikanyama, a prominent area of Tokyo known for being a hotbed for new global trends. Taking advantage of this opportunity, TCM leaders asked IDEO to help them develop a new concept for the school, and to redesign the learning experience while preserving a focus on classical music.

To kick off the research phases of the project, IDEO designers interviewed TCM students, and traveled to London, New York, and Boston visiting educational institutions, music schools, and arts facilities.

The team observed that students at music colleges outside of Japan were giving serious consideration to their career plans at an early stage in their studies, acquiring a variety of skills and mindsets through a well-rounded education. By contrast, TCM students were focused on learning and performing classical music, but tended not to have a clear image of future career opportunities.

IDEO proposed four specific directions for TCM’s new campus, based on an overarching theme of “culture, fields, and people collaborating across boundaries.” The first aim was to foster a business mindset and entrepreneurial spirit among the students that surpassed their classical music training. Next was to increase opportunities for actual performances, collaborations with professionals outside the school, and joint projects. The third aim was to position the college as a platform that would encourage the spontaneous creation of communities within and outside the school. The final aim was to develop students who were digitally savvy and fluent in new technologies, enabling them to continue evolving in response to developments in the real world. These goals are reflected in the various spaces of the school, as well as in the design of the experiences that occur in those spaces.

The most symbolic of these spaces is the Creative Lab. Originally intended as a library, the space now functions as a platform where people from within and outside the school community can collaborate and generate innovative ideas. The open layout, which encloses a cafeteria for students and faculty, can be altered depending on programming needs. The Creative Lab provides a venue not only for live performances in which the students can polish their improvisational skills, but for holding workshops and other events on topics such as cultural exchange, business, and new technologies.

New furniture and objects were carefully selected to inspire spontaneous encounters and conversation between students from different departments and staff, creating a flow of activity.

Even the landings on the staircases, which tend to be dead space, were designed with this concept in mind. One student commented that the space facilitates meeting new people and creates “opportunities for deeper interaction with students from other departments.” This intentional, open design has transformed the space into a hub within the school and the local community.

Through the new environment and educational opportunities at TCM's Daikanyama campus, students now have stronger opportunities to apply their creative talents in numerous fields worldwide, creating impact informed by the various perspectives, skills, and relationships they have developed at TCM.

Georgia is among the most populous states in the American South. It’s a place with a storied past and promising future—on the rise economically, and continuing its powerful cultural impact on music, TV, cuisine, and tourism. Over 10.4 million people call Georgia home, and nearly all of these people will at some point navigate the state’s websites for securing everyday services. Ideally, this online platform would provide unifying and accessible government resources for everyone, whether they’re renewing their vehicle registration, seeking a fishing license, or looking up tax law updates.

Georgia’s Office of Digital Services (DSGA), part of the Georgia Technology Authority, was challenged with designing a platform to modernize the collective and individual online presence of 80+ state agencies, many of which used visually disconnected formats and color palettes that could leave the public feeling confused. DSGA recognized that they could provide more efficient and higher quality service to the public if they simplified the language, designed the site from the user's point of view, and created a more cohesive look and feel across agencies.

IDEO worked with the DSGA to identify the priorities of Georgia residents who use the various agency websites. On a road trip from Savannah to Atlanta, with stops in Macon and Dublin, the IDEO team immersed themselves in the rich culture of Georgia, connecting with social workers, low-income residents, state agency leadership and civic organizations to learn how Georgia’s digital properties could better address their disparate needs.

The design research underscored that there isn’t just one Georgia—it’s a tapestry of people, geographies and political orientations. Yet several common themes emerged, including:

Georgians want their government to “give it to them straight.” On the redesigned Georgia.gov platform, the people of Georgia can easily search popular topics to get the information they need. This includes learning how to apply for food stamps, renewing a business license, or simply finding out the location of a local office in their area. If a user has remaining questions, they can connect directly with a real human for further assistance, balancing direct information with warmth and a personal touch. User feedback on the site provides the opportunity for continuous design improvement.

Georgians want to take pride in the legacy and the future of their state. IDEO developed an entirely new design system with new navigational elements, fonts, and a color palette inspired by Georgia’s landscapes, all of which can be modified for individual agencies while remaining consistent with the state brand.

A distillation of the original Georgia seal adds authority, and new icons anchor the site’s menus and bring more clarity to the search function. The platform was designed to be Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 AA compliant, providing clear and accessible page content that adheres to federal laws and international web standards. To instill trust in Georgia’s online presence, each page also has a header that indicates it’s an official Georgia State website and outlines the uniform features constituents can use to identify this.

With improved navigation and easy-to-access prioritized content, Georgia.gov is a much more efficient platform for addressing requests from citizens. The site projects a happy-to-help, citizen-centered approach that aims to empower all Georgians so that they feel confident, informed, and prepared.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes, almost 10% of the population. The vast majority of these diagnoses are type 2, which is commonly treated through a combination of medicine, diet, and exercise. Today, one of the major barriers to better outcomes is access to trusted information. As little as 15 percent of people with diabetes receive adequate education from their healthcare providers on managing their disease and making recommended lifestyle changes.

Ascensia Diabetes Care, a global healthcare company, has been a leader in diabetes treatment for over 70 years, known primarily for producing blood glucose meters. IDEO has worked with Ascensia for more than a decade, helping develop and design their CONTOUR NEXT ONE meter in 2016. In 2017, Ascensia engaged IDEO with a new goal of moving the company beyond physical devices. Ascensia envisioned a first-of-its-kind approach to educating and monitoring diabetes patients. In partnership with IDEO, they wanted to build a comprehensive solution—one that would not simply take glucose readings and document food intake, but would consider all factors that impact a person's health.

Through deep collaboration, Ascensia and IDEO built a powerful app-based service. The project began with a strategic vision for the experience and ended with the delivery of an all-encompassing health offering, including training of providers, packaging, app design, content creation, and visual design.

The patient experience married data and tracking, real-life mentorship, and personalized content. When a patient signed up, they were paired with a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) who created a tailored program based on their needs and linked them to relevant articles on topics like cooking, mental wellbeing, and sexual health. The IDEO team led the charge in hiring and training guides, crafting the educational content, and even designing the content management hub.

The data engine behind the app is another one of the program's stand-out qualities. The app pulled data from multiple data sources—exercise bands and glucose meters—to provide constant feedback, track progress, and continually refine the experience. To generate empathy, as well as build the app's initial data set, IDEO's data scientists tested the product on themselves. One designer wore a wrist full of exercise monitors around the office and tracked her blood sugar after every meal.

The app-based service was tested with 60 people and demonstrated remarkable early results. Only two participants failed to complete the study—a stunning success rate when adherence to therapy for chronic illnesses in developed countries averages around 50%. Additionally, participants reported drastic improvements in both physical and mental health. One recently widowed 70-year-old woman emerged from depression, returned to swimming, and started having regular blood sugar readings.

The project required Ascensia to embrace new ways of working internally, adopt a broader view of their offering, and ultimately expand the way they serve people with diabetes.

When Mr. Gordon told his fifth grade students they were taking a field trip on a bus, many of them envisioned the city bus that they ride each day to school. But when they saw the Verizon Explorer Lab pull into the school parking lot, they realized a unique experience awaited them. Painted in bright colors, this bus promised something very different from their daily commute.

“Climb aboard, explorers!” says the Lead Explorer. The students walk through the bus’ sliding doors and inside, where instead of rows of seats, they find a sleek research lab. Suddenly, the lights dim. The bus makes a rumbling noise as though it’s about to lift off. And on a large screen, a vision of Earth from space appears. The students listen and point as the video narrator briefs them on NASA’s ongoing search for life in space.

Science education isn’t always this fun. Some kids have a chance to learn through interactive games, immersive experiences, or engaging field trips; but many lack access to rich educational experiences in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). As a result, they can be less likely to pursue careers in STEM, though many future jobs will demand mastery of these subjects. This not only impacts a student’s potential and future, but reduces the diversity and number of qualified STEM job applicants.

In under-resourced schools, students are often limited to the scarce tools available for STEM learning in their classrooms. Many kids rarely have a chance to leave their neighborhoods. For these kids, mobile learning experiences that come to their school offer unparalleled exposure to cutting-edge, technologically advanced, and—most importantly—inspiring gateways into these critical academic subjects.

As part of its focus on digital inclusion, Verizon partnered with IDEO to share the excitement of STEM learning with middle schoolers. To facilitate access and discovery of STEM, the team designed a learning experience that takes place on a coach bus and can be scaled to reach kids across the nation.

The team set out to transform the bus into the Verizon Explorer Lab: a futuristic research lab that transports kids to new environments, from outer space to under the sea. As part of the larger Verizon Innovative Learning program, the Verizon Explorer Lab offers delightful and rigorous content that meets national science standards.

A multidisciplinary team comprised of designers across interaction, communication, environments, games, and software partnered with Verizon to bring the Verizon Explorer Lab to life.

To keep the student at the center of the experience, the team designed alongside kids. Their gravitation toward play, interaction, and technology inspired the digital game that students play onboard the bus. When developing the game’s narrative, the designers turned to popular kids’ books and movies. What began as a card game prototype eventually became a 360-degree video and virtual reality expedition to Mars—complete with a custom musical score—that introduces middle schoolers to engineering basics.

After stepping through the bus doors and taking a tour of the solar system, Mr. Gordon’s students receive an emergency call from NASA: They must rescue the missing Curiosity rover, which is dedicated to collecting evidence of life on Mars. Eager to save Curiosity, the students become immersed in the adventure at hand. And through the adventure, they become immersed in science.

Students use tablets to design their own Mars rover. Each rover appears on a large screen and traverses the planet’s extreme terrain. The goal is to collect data that suggests life on Mars, including ice deposits, photos, and more. Students iterate on their rover’s design—wheels, power sources, and sensors—to test if it can stand up against dust storms and craters. The team consulted a NASA planetary scientist to ensure accuracy, as well as educators to establish cohesion with classroom curricula.

During the game, students are encouraged to compare designs and learn from each other: One rover may be able to travel long distances and take various photos, while another can carry large quantities of ice and sediment samples but can’t go far because of its size. At the end of the mission, the group finds Curiosity and sends all of the evidence they’ve collectively gathered back to NASA to aid the search for life beyond Earth. Before departing the bus, students watch an animated video that explains various jobs in STEM and encourages kids to pursue one of these careers.

The Verizon Explorer Lab teaches students the engineering design loop, the value of collaboration and teamwork, and what a career in STEM might look like. The mission to Mars game is just one of many potential STEM learning opportunities for students and integrated, customizable learning modules for teachers.

Since launch, the Verizon Explorer Lab has traveled to various parts of the United States and reached thousands of kids. It continues to be managed by Learning Undefeated, Verizon’s nonprofit partner. By designing for and with students, it’s possible to create educational experiences that facilitate meaningful learning and genuine fun. The Verizon Explorer Lab represents progress towards a more inclusive future for employers and the STEM field.

1. Waste Land

“A social documentary framed around art. Brazilian artist Vik Muniz spent a couple of years at the world’s biggest landfill, and created art with the people whose job it was to pick through the garbage. This is an inspiring example of how you can take waste and transform it into something beautiful and meaningful.”

Waste Land Trailer

2. Iris

“Iris is a fearless and fiercely creative 95 year-old fashion icon and businesswoman. The film highlights her life, her creative pursuits, and her lust for a life drenched in accessories. She has inspired my take on interior design and fashion—there are no rules and if you love it, it works.”

Iris Trailer

3. Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang

“Famed for The Ninth Wave, an installation commenting on China’s environmental policies, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang works with everything from taxidermy to fireworks. Sky Ladder documents Cai Guo-Qiang’s biggest dream yet: to build a ladder to connect the earth to the universe.”

Sky Ladder Trailer

4. Alive Inside

“Memory is inherently creative. Every time we reflect and look back, we use creativity to reimagine our past life experiences. But what happens when we lose our ability to remember? This film shows us the power of music, creativity, and imagination to bring back the memories of those who have been living without them.”

Alive Inside Trailer

5. Herb and Dorothy

“A charming look at a mailman and a librarian—Herb and Dorothy Vogel—in New York City who love (absolutely love) art. The Vogels live frugally, and over the years have filled their small, one-bedroom apartment with one of the most important collections of minimalist and conceptual art. Not only did they buy the art, they also built relationships—in many cases close friendships—with the artists. The documentary chronicles their lives as collectors—we see how they see, we see how they remember each work of art, and we hear from the many artists inspired by the Vogels' deep appreciation. You can't help but smile watching these two gallery hop or huddle in their tiny kitchen packed with art.”

Herb and Dorothy Trailer

6. Jiro Dreams of Sushi

“A lovely documentary about the spirit of the shokunin (craftsman) and the inscrutable Jiro. It’s inspiring to see the amount of time and effort that can go into the creation of great sushi. This movie is good for anyone who loves food, travel, and culture, and is also a great reminder of the power of craft.”

Jiro Dreams of Sushi Trailer

7. Eames, the Architect and the Painter

“The documentary illuminates how Ray and Charles Eames fused craft and thinking in their design process. It also chronicles the transformation of their work from furniture and products to ideas and communication, as they tackled larger and larger problems. There are many parallels with how IDEO's work has evolved over the years as we have honed our craft.”

Eames, the Architect and the Painter

8. American Movie

“Wisconsinite Mark Borchardt has dreams of making the ultimate psychological horror film on a micro budget. American Movie is an all-access look at his gritty and creative attempt to make his lofty dream a reality. It's a uniquely human documentary that's inspiring and entertaining for anyone who's ever been consumed by creative confidence.”

American Movie Trailer

9. Sans Soleil

“Sans Soleil is a genre-bending documentary about the limits of memory and how it affects history and current events. Chris Marker invites us into the scaffolding of his grand design, provoking us out of circumspect craft. “Frankly, have you ever heard of anything more stupid than to say to people…not to look at the camera?” Age has only increased its relevance.”

Sans Soleil Trailer

10. Bill Cunningham New York

“Way before Instagram, Bill Cunningham was the original street style photographer. This documentary paints a portrait of Bill and his quietly-obsessive creative pursuit that spanned half a century. Watch this this film to be inspired by this great human being's purity of passion and commitment to his craft.”

Bill Cunningham New York Trailer

11. Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time

"This 2001 documentary follows Andy Goldsworthy as he makes art with nature, painstakingly assembling leaves, sticks, rocks, or blocks of ice to create beautiful, ephemeral sculptures. Not only is this the most calming movie you can imagine, it is also inspiring. It reminds me that there are opportunities all around us to create meaning and beauty, if we only have the vision and the persistence to make them real."

Rivers and Tides Trailer

12. A Ballerina's Tale

"Dance, to me, is a grossly under-appreciated art form. It takes a great deal of trying, failing, and perseverance. It's strikingly similar to the world of design in many ways. I love this documentary because it tells the story of Misty Copeland, a black ballerina. There's a lot of history there, as black dancers were often overlooked (and still are) for not having the "typical" ballet body. It makes her rise to the top of this extremely selective world that much more powerful and inspiring."

A Ballerina's Tale Trailer

Thanks to Sally Clark, Piper Loyd, Maura Cass, Chris Hill, Brett Brownell, and Mark Del Lima. Illustrations by Matt Avallone.

We all know that going out into the world and witnessing other peoples' lives is a powerful source of inspiration. But what about when you don't have time to get out in the field? Sometimes a documentary is the next best thing. We asked IDEO designers to nominate the documentaries that they find most inspiring.

I grab things that remind me of a loved one at any point during the year, then stash them in a box. By the holidays, I'm usually in fairly good shape, and it's fun to see what I've collected. It is like a pre-Christmas, as I forget what's in there! Early in December, I take stock and make a shopping plan based on what I already have.

I decorate for Christmas before I go out of town for Thanksgiving. Sure, it's oogey to jump the gun, but I'm grateful to come home to a winter wonderland, and it diminishes the time crunch and stress during my favorite time of the year.

Our family tradition was always to take down decorations on the Feast of the Epiphany (1/6), so this gives me permission to enjoy the season into January. Before taking down decor, I take pictures, so the following year I can look at how I did it before. It helps me feel less overwhelmed: I can either try new things or reconstruct favorite arrangements from years past.

—Katie Gorman

Surprisingly, a ton of yoga places are open on Christmas day. Last year, I took a yoga class on Christmas day in the afternoon. It's actually so great and magical to be giving yourself that space when you are SUPPOSED to spend the whole day with family.

—MADELINE ARMSTRONG

Honey! And no, I'm not calling you a name. Honey is a Chrome extension that automatically looks for discount codes for you, then applies them during your online shopping checkout. Saving money is fun!

—Magen McAfee

We use Elfster to facilitate our secret santa within the family because we can't be together to draw paper names like we used to.

Whenever they have a promotion, I order free 4x6 prints from Shutterfly, then tape them to handmade construction paper cards to send out at Christmas. I buy things at extreme discount as early as October and leave the original price tag on for gifts.

—Anonymous

I usually use the holidays to have some great food with my parents. And this is what happens when a product designer is afraid to fail at cooking steaks—a quick prototype of an Arduino sous-vide cooker. Happened to me last Christmas…

—NICKI SCHAEFER

For my husband and I, our gift to each other is permission not to buy gifts for each other. Once a year, we buy a piece of "anniversary art" together, and we get all year to shop for it. Other than that, it's nice to opt out of the consumerism that can cast a shadow on the holiday season.

—Denise Burchell

This year, we've decided to just make donations instead of buying gifts for our immediate family. For our extended family, everyone draws names, so we each only have to give one gift.

—Mollie West Duffy

(And a few from me!) My son is three years old and needs nothing—he’s got more toys and books than he knows what to do with. Whenever anyone feels they must give him a gift, we point them to a link that allows them to give directly to his college savings account. What better gift than to give to his future education? Ugift529.com.

Also, the gift of dinner out is awesome, but dinner with babysitting is amaaaazzzzing. UrbanSitter—our go-to for our favorite sitters—offers gift cards for childcare. Add an Uber gift card to make the whole night complete!

—Katie Clark

I'm traveling to my partner's home city this Thanksgiving. Her parents are very traditional so we'll be in separate bedrooms for the holiday. I plan to purposefully forget to pack things like socks so that we have an excuse to go on shopping excursions together to reconnect.

—ANONYMOUS

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If you’re from a family that’s as opinionated and politically diverse as mine, the holidays can be an interesting time, to say the least. (I have been using this New York Times piece to prepare—wish me luck!) Even gift-giving can be fraught in these uncertain times, so I reached out to my fellow IDEOers for their favorite holiday hacks. From “forgotten socks” to Arduino-cooked steaks—they ginned up some gems.

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What were you trying to accomplish in the redesigned space?

Jenny Winfield (JW): Business travelers are usually required to work their hardest when they travel—they need to win a pitch or clinch a deal. The stakes are high. So we came up with a concept we call “Ignition,” a new meeting and working space in the hotel lobby that makes it easy to work while on the road. It combines new spaces for group creative thinking or heads-down work, a work-friendly menu of healthy food options, a new staff member to handle business needs, and digital tools providing on-demand services.

Last January, we were ready to test our concept live. Per usual, we would be there in person for a few weeks to do interviews and gather observations, but we also thought we should measure how our new solution performed when we weren’t there. That’s where the sensors came in.

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How did the sensors help you make your case?

JW: The pilot was split into two phases in each location. First, we gathered data for the baseline—testing the lobby in its initial form—then the redesigned space. We wanted to make sure we improved on all fronts—not just sales metrics, but also, traffic through the space, and the number of people using each type of space.

What kind of equipment did you use to build your sensor setup?

Miha Feus (MF): We used cameras to measure foot traffic and activity across different areas of the space, as well as sound sensors to gauge the volume level and infer the atmospheric buzz. And we also used seat and proximity sensors to measure occupancy and dwell time on different pieces of furniture. The actual sensing components (pressure and proximity sensors, and microphones) were off the shelf, but we built the brains for the sensors and the communication platform to gather the data from around the space wirelessly.

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How did you rig up all the sensors, and what software did you use to record that data?

MF: Most of the sensors were held in place with double-sided tape. We taped cameras overhead and sound sensors on the ceiling, and placed seat sensors under seat cushions. All the data from the sensors was sent to an Arduino Yun, which served as a hub, routing the data via Wi-Fi to a Parse Database. The Arduino Yun also retained a local copy on an SD card, in case there were any Wifi issues.

To analyze data from the cameras, we used a software tool called Camlytics. It was able to capture the number of people passing through the space automatically, without the need to record visual data. This way, we didn’t infringe on people’s privacy.

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The proprietary hardware we created around the sensors was also built with privacy in mind. All the sensors only had transmitters, which means they couldn’t be hacked remotely. But even if someone had gained access to them, the chips and transmitters we were using were unable to process and transmit sound data at a level where someone could listen in on a conversation. The seat sensors worked similarly. The data we were getting only told us whether they were occupied.

JW: Ethically, we are committed to protecting our participants, whether they are explicitly taking part in our research, or they happened to wander into it. In any case, our main goal was to capture overall usage levels, so there was no reason to map or track specific users.

What was the hardest part about making this sensor system work?

MF: The most challenging thing was to design something that can run unsupervised for weeks on the other side of the ocean, something we’ve never done before. But we also had trouble with our “huddle spots”—bespoke pieces of furniture we created for this project. Because they were hard plastic stools without cushions, we couldn’t use pressure sensors to measure their use. Instead, we had to rely on proximity sensors, which are power hungry, and not the most reliable.

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What useful takeaways did you learn from the sensor data?

JW: The new concept was definitely popular. We had a 79% increase in people coming through the space in our first test site.

Okay, so more people walked through your space but did they stop?

JW: The number of people who sat down in the space went up by 80 percent, predominantly at times when those areas are usually very quiet (the early afternoon, for example). So not only did we increase use of the space, timestamps in our data showed that we did it at a time when it used to be empty. That, combined with data that showed food orders were being made at a time when the regular restaurant was closed, was a great selling point.

The sensors also showed us that the average dwell time in the huddle spots and nooks—spaces designed for four to six people work together—was 20-35 minutes, which confirmed our idea that these pieces should be used for quick perches and catch ups. It sounds simple, but it was huge. It not only meant that the design of the space itself was right, it also confirmed the importance of having drinks delivered within a 5-minute window, or having technology that empowers users to make an order in less than 1 minute. If visitors only hang around for 30 minutes, everything has to be really fast.

What’s the most exciting potential for sensors in future design research?

MF: As data collection methods and analytics tools become easier to use, we’ll use them as prototyping materials, much like we are using foamcore and hot glue at the moment.

JW: The ability for us to learn about user behavior remotely is most exciting to me, given that it’s something we haven’t been able to do before. With sensors, remote research can mean much more than learning how people are using a digital tool that we built. Being able to track patterns and see how people naturally interact with our prototypes (both physical and digital) when we’re not there is huge. Then it's about looking at the resulting data in creative ways and telling a more nuanced story about the type of impact we expect our ideas to have out in the world.

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Recently, at IDEO London, we’ve started to think more creatively about how to collect and use data for research during the design process. It’s easy to track user behavior when we work on digital design projects; the tools are built in. But what if we had those capabilities outside the digital space? On a recent project, design researcher Jenny Winfield and interaction designer Miha Feus found a way to collect user data in a physical/digital prototype, by using sensors to evaluate a redesigned hotel workspace for Crowne Plaza hotels. Here’s a little bit about how they did it, and how approaches like this one could change the future of design research.

I took this picture during my morning ferry commute along the Thames. As you can see, it's raining. (It rains in London a lot.)

I'm standing where the passengers get off the boat. The ferry was designed with a drainpipe to funnel rainwater off of the boat, but the water lands on passengers as they disembark. I guess the designers were thinking more about the boat than the people on it.

Conveniently, there is also a Costa coffee shop on the boat. So someone removed the base of a paper coffee cup, and stuck the cup on the pipe. This small fix extended the drainpipe, keeping the passengers dry. Brilliant.

Human-centered design requires us to observe human behavior with beginner's eyes, so that we can spot the innate ways people interact with the world around them. We call these intuitive and unconscious reactions thoughtless acts, and IDEO designers collect photos of them to inspire the invention of new products, services, and experiences.

I help organizations cut through complexity by shaping how they show up, through brand strategy, identity, and storytelling.

Working at the intersection of brand and business, I bring an editorial eye and a bias toward making—turning ideas into tangible experiences that people can understand, trust, and believe in.

My work spans government, healthcare, financial services, media, and consumer goods, from launching Gen Z-focused ventures to building innovation labs and reimagining legacy brands. I relish moments of ambiguity and enjoy translating across teams, perspectives, and priorities to move ideas forward.

I started my career in editorial and digital design, shaping cross-platform experiences and identity systems in publishing and agency environments. That foundation still shapes how I work today: I’m detail-oriented, collaborative, and overreliant on the Oxford comma. I hold a BFA in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

For 25 years, I've asked the same question: Who does this design exclude—and what are we going to do about it?

My work spans human-centered strategy, inclusive design, and qualitative research, with clients ranging from Microsoft, Google, and Verizon to the National Science Foundation, and San Francisco Unified School District.

Before IDEO, I taught elementary school in East Palo Alto and spent a decade doing design work with social service organizations—where I learned firsthand what it costs people when systems are built without them in mind.

I am currently writing User Error, a nonfiction book about digital access and the design decisions behind it. I live in Oakland, California.

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My expertise spans brand, communication, and product design across tech, education, the arts, and social impact.

I believe great work demands both high-level vision and obsessive attention to detail, and only happens through collaboration.

I bring an inclusive, hands-on approach and a deep understanding of business, which enables me to consistently deliver excellence while always asking why.

Before joining IDEO, I worked at the brand firms Pentagram and VSA Partners. I began my career as a designer, leading teams at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Museum. I hold an MFA in graphic design from Maryland Institute College of Art and a BFA in communication design from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, and have taught at some of the best design schools in the US.

I am responsible for IDEO’s long-term success in China and working with clients to use design as a tool to enable growth. Specifically, I have helped Chinese companies design holistic brand solutions through the development of their products, communication, services, and innovation teams, and I have helped multinationals expand their presence and influence in China.

I advise global leaders on developing China-led innovation and capabilities.

In over 15 years in IDEO Shanghai, I have worked on projects that use design to elevate the quality of the experience of healthcare products and services, streamline processes that increase productivity, create spaces and programs that promote and enable inclusive communities, and build next generation mobility solutions that are planet-positive.

Before joining IDEO, I worked at Philips Electronics and the Electrolux Group in Italy, the Netherlands, and Singapore on a number of breakthrough commercial products. I am a member of the Young President Organization in Shanghai.